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Materials
This article contains a list of special materials from various settings. Source Lands The Source lands setting offers quite a few unique setting materials to work with. Adamantine Raw Adamantine, often called Mithral, is a corrupted, but frequently occurring isotope of mercury. When exposed to the right treatment, it hardens up and becomes a very strong metal, known as Processed Adamantine. Raw Adamantine comes from other planes of existence and otherworldly beings (most monsters) are actually weak against any products containing Adamantine - but the metal is also magic resistant naturally, and seems to refuse all but the most extreme attempts to affect its temperature. Being non-magnetic, non-corroding and non-conductive - in many ways, it is as if Adamantine simply doesn't react to the world. Raw Adamantine can be bound to steel in certain ways to produce Dark Steel, though the exact science is a treasured secret of the Dwarves. Raw Adamantine is used to produce the most treasured alloys in the world, and as such it is unfathomably valuable. It used to be so rare that entire Kingdoms could not afford small quantities, but fairly large deposits were discovered in the North Sourcelands. It's now fairly common for High-Nobility, and especially Royalty, to have heirlooms manufactured from this material, or rather from one of the alloys that can be made from it. Processed Adamantine Processed Adamantine, often called Mirthril, is essentially hardened Raw Adamantine - the process involves mixing it with small quantities of Platinum, so it is of course, in reality, an alloy. It is very difficult to destroy, though unfortunately it is also incredibly flexible, and far too light to make efficient weapons out of. It has proven decent for making chain armor and other such armors intended to be flexible (or with that as an already existent design flaw). It also makes decent rondel daggers, sabers, rapiers and other weapons where flexibility isn't an issue. Processed Adamantine makes for a very effective mid-layer, because unlike normal chain-mail and such, it is nearly unnoticeable in weight. Dark Steel Dark Steel, also sometimes called 'Cold Iron' because of it's general reluctancy ro obtain and retain heat, is the result of mixing small amounts of iron with Adamantine. The recipe is very difficult to get right, as if not mixed within certain narrow tolerances, the result is always a Dark Strand item, if one has used too little, or a Processed Adamatine item if one has used too much. Dark Steel is, without a doubt, the strongest material known to mankind - About a third lighter than regular items of the same kind (made from iron), using Dark Steel is great for plate armor, helmets and large weapons. It does require a master weapon-smith smith to forge Dark Steel weapons, because the reduced weight can seriously upset the functionality of a weapon that might rely on weight. Dark Steel items are heinously expensive - it isn't so much a supply issue - the real issue is that there are very few people who can forge Dark Steel items that are worth using. For the untrained eye, Dark Strand, Dark Steel Alloy and Dark Steel is impossible to tell apart - but most people choose to get the more affordable Dark Strand equipment. Dark Steel is practically indestructible, weak only to similar materials made from Adamantine, ridiculous levels of energy or magic. Dark Strand Dark Steel weapons are worth a King's Ransom (perhaps a poor king, but a king all the same). An alternative is to use very small quantities of Adamantine when forging a weapon, resulting in a Dark Stand weapon. Dark Strand weapons and armor are weak against Dark-Steel Alloy and true Dark Steel, but superior to all mundane materials. Further more, Dark Strand trumps Silverite Alloy in strength. Dark Strand items are not much lighter than the original items, but also infinitely less expensive. Most Slayers carry at least one Dark Strand weapon for personal defense, as Slayers are often so strong that they could shatter a normal weapon in regular combat. Dark Steel Alloy While a normal item wouldn't enjoy much of a benefit from being coated in Dark Steel, a Dark Strand item becomes almost as strong as a full Dark Steel item. Dark Steel Alloy is still much more affordable than full Dark Steel items and are very difficult to tell apart from full Dark Steel. Silverite Silverite is the result of mixing Raw Adamantine with high purity silver. Silverite items are a little weaker than Dark Steel Alloy items, but still MUCH stronger than regular items, but despite the weakness, Silverite is actually much more precious than Dark Steel because it has the hidden property of being capable of physical interaction with ethereal, spectral and ephemeral beings. This means that a Silverite dagger could be used to hurt, say, a ghost. Drained Adamantine It's possible to "deplete" Adamantine, which traditionally is heavily infused with magic. If this is done - the Adamantine absorbs large quantities of magic, making it spell resistant, because it automatically dissolves any spells thrown at it. It's hypothetically possible to continue throwing enough spells at a piece of drained Adamantine that it loses this property, but generally speaking this would take half a lifetime. Drained Adamantine is extremely dangerous to craft - but it is invaluable for mage-killers, and witch-hunters alike. Being within 5 feet of a sizeable (at least 500 grams/~1 lbs) piece of depleted Adamantine, would render any kind of spell-casting impossible for a magic user. Hallowed materials Hallowed materials are largely indifferent from their regular counter-parts, except during the process of creation, they were somehow introduced to holy-water and blessed. Such items do, admittedly, sometimes work better against certain demons and undead - but only because the undead or demons are prone to their own superstitions. The common folk genuinely believe in the effects of hallowed materials, and gladly give large donations to the churches for such items to be produced. Silver Wood Silver Wood is a strange kind of tree, that grows incredibly tall and stout. The trees are found almost exclusively in the Source Lands, and even then, mostly in the North Source Lands. They are extremely rare, but grow in groves. Silver Wood looks like any other kind of tree on first inspection, but it's leaves have the shape of a broad-heard arrowhead (or a kite shield, as others would say). The trees connect to each other through a root network, and it is incredibly rare to get a Silver Wood tree to grow outside of an already existing root network. The sprout will simply wither and die if it doesn't connect after a while of growth. Silver Wood grows very quickly for a tree, at least if the ground around it is fertile and they aren't competing too much for the rays of sun available. If tended to by someone, Silver Wood groves can produce a fully grown tree per year on average. A fully grown Silver Wood tree (they never reach this size if unattended) is the size of a large California Red-Oak). Silver Wood has a relatively normal and unimpressive layer of tree bark, but underneath, the wood gleams with a strange silvery glow. Silver Wood is the hardest and at the same time most flexible wood type known to man, and it is incredibly light. The Orlesian Navy Flagship is made entirely of Silver Wood, and it is said that cannon-fire bounced off the ship's hull. Spears and lances made from silver wood are unlikely to ever snap or break, and shields made from Silver Wood are not known to shatter. Silver Wood holds it's own against even Dark Steel weaponry for the most part, as long as one doesn't tempt fate. Bows of Silver Wood have proven exceptionally excellent, but also neigh impossible to draw for all but the strongest.